Batman
by Now.Get.This
Summary: I secretly like Batman too, but don't tell anyone," I said to him. "I won't tell anyone if you don't tell anyone my secret," he said. "Okay," I agreed. He leaned in towards me before whispering in my ear. - A Short Stack fanfic.


"Hi Bradie!" I grinned back at the blonde haired girl standing in front of me. She put a poster of Shaun, Andy and I on the table and slowly pushed it towards me.

"Hello, what's your name?" I asked taking the lid of my permanent texta to sign the poster.

"My name's Audrey," I heard her say over the noise, not able to wipe the grin off her face, "I love you," she said, "I think you're a great drummer," she told me. That always made me grin. When one of the fans told me I was a great drummer. Her face went blank for a moment as she waited for me to reply.

"Really? That's funny 'cause I love you too!" I replied and the grin instantly reappeared on her face. I signed the poster, gave it back to her and hugged her before she moved on to get Andy to sign it. I kept smiling to myself as I waited for the next person. I sat down in my seat behind the long table the three of us were sitting at. The line of fans was huge but I didn't mind. I really didn't. No matter how many times the kids said they loved me, they loved Short Stack or they thought I was a great drummer I never got sick of it. I put the lid back on the texta and played with it, tapping it on my leg. I looked out over the line of people. They all had their cameras aimed at us, ready to take a picture as soon as we moved. So I smiled at them and waved. They screamed louder and the flashes from the camera's went off everywhere. I stood up as the next person came to meet me. It was a black-haired boy, about sixteen years old. He smiled shyly at me. He had a CD in hand.

"Hello, what's your name?" I asked, pulling the lid off my texta again. He opened his mouth to speak but seemed too shocked to speak.

"I-I'm. . ." he leaned in closer to me and I leaned closer to him so I could hear, "I'm Batman," he whispered. I pretended to look shocked as he laughed.

"It's okay, your secret's safe with me," I told him.

"Could you sign this for me please?" he asked, handing me his CD. I nodded.

"I certainly will, anything for Batman," I told him. I put the CD on the table and signed my name above my picture on the cover. I handed it back to him.

"I thought you liked Spiderman," he said, looking at me with a suspicious face. He took the CD from me and looked down at it before looking back at me. I leaned towards him.

"I secretly like Batman too, but don't tell anyone," I said to him. He nodded slowly. He had a dazed look on his face, like he was off in his own world and had no idea what I'd even said to him. Suddenly he snapped out of it and looked me directly in the eyes.

"I won't tell anyone if you don't tell anyone my secret," he said.

"Okay," I agreed. He leaned in towards me and cupped his hand around his mouth before whispering in my ear, "I'm depressed," he said. Then he stood back properly and looked at me. I stared back at him. I had no idea what to say. Was he being serious or not? He looked back at me. He looked worried. Could he trust me? I bit my lip. I suddenly felt really sad. What should I do? Should I tell someone? Should I take him aside and talk to him? Should I tell Shaun or Andy?

"I just had to tell someone," he smiled at me and then the grinned instantly dissapeared and he moved on to meet Andy. I kept watching him.

"Hey, how are ya?" Andy said to him.

"Hi, I'm good," he said. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone come stand in front of me but I couldn't take my eyes of the boy. I had to do something! Or should I just keep it a secret? I said I wouldn't tell anyone his secret and even though this is bad maybe I should keep my promise.

"Hey!" Shaun hit me on the shoulder and I whipped around to look at him. He nodded towards the boy standing in front of me.

"Hello, I'm sorry about that," I said to him. He shrugged.

"It's okay, could you sign this poster for me?" he asked. I nodded.

"Of course I can," I told him and took his poster out of his hands.

* * *

I was still shaken by those words. Just two words made me feel so weird. It gave me this feeling. I don't know it was like I was scared, sad and worried all at once. And I didn't know what to do. Right now there was nothing I could do. I didn't even know the kid's real name! I should've stopped him while I had the chance. He confided in me, even though we don't know each other. I should've done something!

"Bradie!" I heard Shaun yell at me. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked across the room at him. We were sitting in our hotel, in the small lounge room. We'd decided against going out. The concert finished at five but we didn't finish meeting the fans until around seven. It wasn't late or anything but we were all pretty tired. Besides, we'd gone out after every other show we'd played. And we have to get an early flight home tomorow morning.

"What?" I asked.

"Want a drink?" he asked, reaching over the coffee table between the opposing couches to hand me a beer. I shook my head.

"Nah, you can have it," I told him. He sat back in his seat and smiled to himself.

"Oh, if I must," he said, opening his own beer and the one he had just offered me. I shook my head and looked back at the small TV mounted on the wall. We were watching some music channel that had been playing music videos since we arrived back at our room. It wasn't late yet, only about nine thirty but I was kind of tired.

"I'm kind of glad the tour's over," Andy said, "I'm real tired." I bit my lip. No matter what I did or said those words would no stop repeating themselves in my head. Maybe I should tell them. Just to get it off my chest. Now, there's nothing we can do about it. He said he just had to tell someone. Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is. Maybe, he really just needed to tell someone to get it off his chest.

Then I had an idea. It wasn't a good idea, it might not work. But I could try. Maybe I should go through all our Myspace friends and see if I can find him. I know what he looks like. Plain black hair, fringe, blue eyes, sort of skinny. It would take forever to go through all our friends but it would be worth it. When I find him I can talk to him and make sure he's okay. This made me feel a little better. But the thought of having to go through all our friends didn't seem very exciting.

I have to get my mind off this. I leaned forward a little and grabbed the beer Shaun had gotten for me and sat back.

"What're you doing?" he asked. I ignored his question and took a drink from it.

* * *

"Well what're we gonna do?" Shaun asked as him, Andy and I wandered through the airport. We had gotten to the airport early and there wasn't much to do.

"Let's eat, I'm pretty hungry," Andy said, rubbing his eyes. I had gone to sleep early last night, at around eleven pm. Shaun and Andy told me they didn't get to sleep until two. Which really isn't that late but they're pretty tired considering they spent most of last night drinking.

"Wait I wanna go in here. I need Red Bull or I'll fall asleep," Shaun said leading the way to a small store that sold magazines and junk food. He headed to the back of the store where the food was. Andy and I stood at the front and waited for him. It should've taken him a minute to walk to the back of the store and choose a drink but he was gone for a good five minutes. Finally he turned up at the front counter and paid for his stupid drink. We left the store and headed for the food court. We knew our way around this place well. To tell you the truth I was kind of getting sick of this airport.

We found a table to sit at in McDonalds. We didn't want to eat there but it was the only place we could find to sit at. The food court was pretty busy, as soon as Andy ran off to find food he dissapeared and I couldn't find him anywhere in the crowd. I sat back in my seat and looked around. Shaun had opened his drink and was swallowing it all in one go.

"I bet you'll be sick later," I said to him. He shrugged.

"Nah I won't, I'll be fine," he said. We sat in silence. I couldn't be bothered talking and that boy's words were still in my head. I couldn't wait to get home so I could find him and talk to him and not have to worry anymore. I'm not just worried about him 'cause he's a fan. If anyone came up to me and said the same words he did I would be worried about them. And I'd keep worrying until I knew they were okay. But right now I knew nothing about this boy and I had to find out if he was okay.

I was fidgeting, I was anxious. I just wanted to get home and go on our Myspace.

"Would you sit still. You look like you've had ten energy drinks!" Shaun laughed at me. The guys always made fun of me when I had energy drinks. I hardly ever had them so when I did the sugar really got to me. I talk loud and alot, I run around like crazy, I can't sit still.

"Who's had ten energy drinks?" Andy asked, coming back to the table. He had a bottle of water and two chocolate cookies in a paper bag. He sat down at the extra seat.

"No one, Bradie's just acting like he has," Shaun told him, grinning. Andy shrugged and bit into one of the cookies. I didn't feel like eating. I always got this nervous, excited feeling before I got on a plane and I could never eat. I sighed and looked around. There was rubbish and mess everywhere. But none of the workers had time to clean it up, the two lines of customers at the front counter went right through the store.

I looked up. There was a column right next to our table. It had a rack on two of the opposite sides, both filled with newspapers and magazines. I noticed a picture on the front of one of the newspapers that caught my eye. It was only a small article at the bottom of the front page but I still wanted to know what it was about. I reached up and pulled the newspaper off the rack. I layed it flat on the table. I ignored the picture and read the article.

_Search for a missing sixteen year old boy resulted in the worst last night when he was found dead on the train tracks just fifty metres from North Hinton Railway Station._

I quickly looked at the picture. It was of the train station. You could see the sign for North Hinton and the scene of an ambulance, police and others. I looked back at the writing and started to read again.

_Dallas White was reported missing late last night. Police were called to the White residence where a small search for the teenager was made throughout his neighborhood. After only thirty minutes of searching a call was made to the local police station. A body was reported being found on the train tracks. When police arrived at the scene it was made clear that this was the boy they were looking for. Continued pg. 4._

I hurriedly opened the paper to get to page 4. My heart was beating fast. My breathing was getting shaky.

"What are you doing? You don't read the paper," Shaun said. I ignored him and found page 4. The pictures made my eyes grow wide and I couldn't help but stare at them with my mouth hanging open.

"Holy shit!" I nearly yelled. It was him. Batman.


End file.
